Average earnings of security-cleared professionals dropped four percent since last year, according to a recent study. Despite that drop, a majority of respondents are satisfied with their salaries.

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Overall, security-cleared salaries averaged $72,717 while other forms of compensation including overtime, danger pay and bonuses added an additional $16,177, to total compensation (18 percent.)

"The decline in total compensation for security-cleared professionals is likely due to lower usage of signing bonuses in the United States, and the reduction in both the number of contractors in Iraq and their earnings - whose total compensation is significantly higher than average," said Evan Lesser, founder and Managing Director of ClearanceJobs.com.

Total compensation for government contractors improved slightly to a total $98,221, up from $98,088 last year. Around 20 percent of government contractors with increased earnings reported that changing employers was the primary reason.

Despite the average drop in total compensation, security-cleared professionals a majority of workers (58 percent) were satisfied with their salaries. In addition, 60 percent of cleared professionals expressed satisfaction with their current work, however, this is slightly down from last year (62 percent.)